Calgary players still hold veteran pivot in high regard even though he’s now at the helm of CFL rival

Kevin Glenn is settling in with the B.C. Lions.

Nik Lewis has a message of comfort for all those West Coast football fans fretting over the health troubles of Travis Lulay, the de facto starting quarterback for the B.C. Lions.

Should Lulay’s wonky wing fail to heal up in time for the kickoff of the CFL regular season, the insurance policy known as Kevin Glenn could prove better than the original game plan.

At least that’s one man’s opinion.

“I’m going to tell you this,” Lewis, the 11-year CFL veteran, opined in advance of Friday’s exhibition tilt in Vancouver against Glenn and the Lions. “If Travis Lulay doesn’t play for a little while, Kevin Glenn might be the starter for a long time. And that’s great for the B.C. Lions.

“Don’t get me wrong. Lulay is a great quarterback, but I just believe Kevin is a top-tier quarterback in this league. He’s proven it time and time again, and he has the highest respect from me.”

The highest respect from Lewis, and the highest respect from a Stampeder organization that begrudgingly left the 2013 starter exposed last December in the Ottawa expansion draft.

The decision came down to practicalities. Glenn celebrated his 35th birthday last week. Bo Levi Mitchell is 24 and oozes potential as a franchise field general. Mitchell could quarterback the Stampeders for the next decade. Glenn is edging closer to the twilight of his career.

So the Stamps bid Glenn farewell, content in the knowledge the cagey veteran would ply his trade on the other side of the country with the expansion Ottawa RedBlacks.

Then came the surprise signing of Henry Burris as the No. 1 quarterback in the Nation’s Capital, followed by Glenn’s demand for a trade. Two months later, the RedBlacks shipped Glenn to the B.C. Lions for a first-round pick (fifth overall) in the CFL Draft.

One of the most popular players in the Calgary locker-room, Glenn remains in contact with Stampeder players and coaches alike,

“I wished him happy birthday the other day and told him he was old,” says Dave Dickenson, the Stamps assistant head coach. “For him, it’s good. Did we really want to see him out West? Probably not. But I do think it’s a great move for him.

“Who knows how it will work out with playing time and all that, but he’s going to like the organization. Good people.”

Good people and good opportunity for Glenn, who simply wants a legitimate shot at contending for the No. 1 job. As it happens, Lulay went roughly two weeks during training camp without throwing a single ball due to a chronic shoulder injury.

So barring a miracle recovery for the ginger-haired quarterback, Glenn is the starter for Friday’s pre-season game against his buddies from Calgary and the season opener June 28 against the Edmonton Eskimos.

Not bad for a guy relegated to No. 2 in Ottawa when the expansion RedBlacks decided on Burris as the more tantalizing option.

“It was tough,” Glenn says via telephone from Lions training camp in Kamloops. “That’s one thing I think any professional athlete will tell you is that uncertainty is the toughest thing to handle. Guys know we play a sport where at any given time, you’re can be released. You can lose your job. You’re always auditioning for your job every day. But when you have that uncertainty, with you not knowing where you’re going to be or how the situation ends, I think that’s the toughest thing to handle.”

To prevent obsession and bitterness from swallowing him, Glenn threw himself into life as a family man. He took his son to baseball, basketball and soccer practice. He hung around with his two-year-old daughter.

And when rumination about the future crept in, he prayed.

“You try to take the personal aspect out of it and remember this is a business,” Glenn says. “ But at the same time, when you’ve built relationships with certain people who were involved in the situation, it’s hard to take that personal aspect out of it.

“I think any player would tell you the biggest thing is they just want to be told the truth. Don’t hide things. Don’t mislead them. Just be honest with them and upfront with them. ”

With Ottawa in the rear-view mirror, Glenn is ready to prove, once again, he deserves to start — a concept Lewis finds puzzling in the extreme given Glenn’s stats and success over the last three years.

But Glenn isn’t complaining in the slightest.

“Just being presented with the opportunity is the biggest thing,” he says. “That’s all I’ve ever asked for. I’ve never been given anything in this league. I’m confident in my abilities. I know what I can do.

“When I’m given an opportunity, I’ve pretty much shown what I can do.”

Lewis is convinced. So is Dickenson.

Let the chips fall where they may.

“We know he’s a good player,” Dickenson says. “That’s just the bottom line. We know he’ll win games for them. But we also like him as person.

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